Outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati during his maintenance at the Al-Jadeed channel on March 5, 2024. (Credit: al-Jadeed screenshot)
BEIRUT — Outgoing Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati stated that in his opinion, Hezbollah is indeed focused on containing the fighting at the Lebanon-Israel border, during an interview with Lebanese TV channel al-Jadeed on Tuesday evening.
"Is Hezbollah focused on containing and mitigating the situation? Or does it want to open a new front? I ask the question... As far as I'm concerned, it's trying to contain it," he said, adding that he believes the party "has the capacity to retaliate, but is containing itself."
In the televised interview, Mikati also addressed the fallout from US Special Envoy Amos Hochstein's recent visit to Lebanon on Monday, detailing the outlines of a "proposal" the diplomat submitted in an attempt to encourage calm on the southern border.
Hochstein' proposal
"Everyone is trying to calm the front in South Lebanon and establish long-term, sustainable stability. This is Hochstein's mission, and proposals have been made" to this effect, said Mikati said in response to questions from al-Jadeed's host Georges Salibi.
"An agreement for the Ramadan period will take place in Gaza. There are rumors of a cease-fire before Ramadan. At home, there will be negotiations this month," he asserted, although no affirmative reports have come out of Cairo regarding the negotiations, and Hochstein said that a truce agreement between Hamas and Israel would not automatically include Hezbollah.
Mikati told al-Jadeed that Hochstein's proposal is on the table, and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri is expected to respond to it soon, having taken the time to study the document.
"We also have questions, and we are waiting for answers from Mr. Hochstein," Mikati said, indicating that he and Berri will be contacting Hochstein within the next 48 hours by telephone, regarding the proposal.
The outgoing Prime Minister went on to say that the US diplomat's proposal was "a tool for the full implementation of Resolution 1701," which was agreed upon between Israel and Lebanon in 2006 as an end to the July war and explicitly delegates the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the Lebanese Army to operate and maintain peace along the so-called Blue Line, an unofficial border line between the two countries.
The resolution also called for Hezbollah to withdraw to north of the Litani River, in exchange for Israel's respect for Lebanese sovereignty.
"We are committed to 1701, provided that Israel stops its violations against Lebanon, which reached 35,000 between 2006 and 2024," Mikati said, referring to instances when Israel has invaded Lebanese air, land, and maritime territory.
Diplomacy and presidential election
The outgoing head of government also discussed contacts with The Group of Five, a quintet of countries (France, USA, Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia) involved in trying to establish presidential elections in Lebanon.
The process has been stalled for months, and Lebanon has been without a president since October 2022. "French intentions are good. [Paris is] a supporter of Lebanon, and communications are ongoing between us," Mikati said. As for the Saudi position, "it has not changed."
"Lebanon would not tolerate a President of the Republic who challenged any one particular political camp. And from what we can see, Sleiman Frangieh does not have a total consensus," said the Prime Minister, referring to the leader of the Marada, supported by the the allied Hezbollah and Amal Movement.
Mikati told al-Jadeed that an initiative by the National Moderation Bloc, made up of mostly Sunni, ex-Hariri deputies, "shakes up the political stalemate."
The bloc is touring various political groups, calling for discussions within Parliament until a consensus is reached, before opening electoral sessions.
In a post on the social media platform X, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said that the "Axis of Resistance" in Lebanon (Hezbollah and its allies) "does not want a presidential dialogue."
"With every new presidential initiative, the mask falls, and tangible evidence confirms what the opposition repeatedly declares: the 'Axis of Resistance' does not want dialogue, but rather seeks to divide those who do not support its candidate through repeated calls for dialogue, attempting to persuade some with certain gains in exchange for endorsing its former ministerial candidate, Sleiman Frangieh," Geagea wrote.
'High treason,' lawsuits, and 'dereliction of duty'
Najib Mikati also tackled his political adversaries during the interview, notably the Aounist camp.
Asked about the possibility of being sued by a parliamentary petition launched by Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil, he responded: "I'm ready, I hope it happens! ... If [Bassil] can't muster 26 MPs and wants me to sue myself, I'm ready."
A minimum of 26 MPs is required to file a parliamentary petition against the Prime Minister before the High Court responsible for judging presidents and ministers.
Two weeks ago, Bassil announced that he would take this step, after the outgoing government had made appointments which, according to the Aounists, do not fall within the prerogatives of a Cabinet charged solely with dispatching current affairs.
As for the outgoing Minister of Defense Maurice Slim, who belongs to the Aounist camp and with whom Mikati has virtually severed all ties, Mikati had this to say to him: "I won't oppose the Minister of Defense. But if I am prosecuted for high treason, he will be prosecuted for dereliction of duty. I know that the decision is not up to him, but that he is guided by others," he said, in a thinly veiled allusion to Gebran Bassil.